Pope's Twitter followers get to Heaven faster? OMG!

FILE - In this Tuesday, March 19, 2013 file photo, Pope Francis is driven through the crowd in his popemobile in St. Peter's Square for his inauguration Mass at the Vatican.
— Associated Pressted Pressd Press

FILE - In this Tuesday, March 19, 2013 file photo, Pope Francis is driven through the crowd in his popemobile in St. Peter's Square for his inauguration Mass at the Vatican.
/ Associated Pressted Pressd Press

Alright, here's the answer. If you can read Latin, you can read it yourself first hand. If you prefer your explanatory journalism in tweets, Religion News Service has you covered here. Or you can can listen to The Rev. James Martin, SJ, a man of God and Twitter.

He explains in the above CNN article that the Vatican is offering people who make a pilgrimage next week to the World Youth Day in Brazil "plenary indulgences" (or time off the temporary Catholic stays in purgatory en route to Heaven). He further explains that the offer is being extended to participants “with due devotion, via the new means of social communication.” And he explains that while the Guardian quoted an anonymous source to report indulgences are available for "following on Twitter," that's not accurate. Martin wrote:

[I]t’s not enough simply to follow the pope on Twitter. It’s not even enough to check his Twitter feed frequently. You need to be (a) contrite, (b) trying to follow the events at World Youth Day live and (c) performing these acts with “due devotion.” In other words, the Vatican is clearly referring to prayerful participation in these events by men and women who could not otherwise go, through the various “new means of social communication.”

Mgr Claudio Maria Celli, president of the pontifical council for social communications, offered his own explanation on the Italian news website Corriere della Sera. He said: “You don't get the indulgence the way you get a coffee from a vending machine.... What really matters is that the Pope's tweets from Brazil, or the photos of World Youth Day that will be posted on Pinterest, should bear authentic spiritual fruit in the hearts of each one of us. Then even a youngster who is a very long way from Brazil and feels involved by a video, a simple text message or an email will be truly taking part in the World Youth Day and will receive the gift of the indulgence."

The Atlantic: What the Pope Really Meant in His Twitter-Indulgences Announcement

EnderTZero: It sounds to me like he’s extending the benefit to the spirit that comes from actually attending the event to those people who earnestly participate using telephonic means. Striking down a wall of digital dualism, as it were.

thomas: Twitter isn’t the only way to appear “modern”: there are also these things called tolerance and diversity.

Jim: They use the threat of hell to get people in to church physically, why not use it to get people on Twitter?

meg: ...but my Bible specifically say that you can’t earn salvation? “For it is by GRACE you have been saved, through FAITH — and this is NOT FROM YOURSELVES, it is the GIFT of God — NOT BY WORKS, so that no one can boast. For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.” Ephesians 2:8-10

Andy_London: I thought that indulgences went out in the days of Luther. Boy was I mistaken!

Chrysoprase: Well yes, you were mistaken. The Bishop of Rome is in no doubt about his authority to grant indulgences. In Luther’s day there had been abuses of this tradition by various people trying to make money. But it is part of the sacramental theology of the Church that the punishment justly incurred can be expunged. When a priest absolves sins in the confessional, that person’s friendship with God is restored. But there is still punishment due to sin in accordance with God’s justice. This, the Church teaches will occur after death and prior to entering heaven. An indulgence removes that ‘debt’.

Jairo Gelvez: I appreciate the word of God that Pope Francis says every day. Thanks to God.